ALIGNING WITH LUNAR TIME

The ancients claimed that all substance of life is created from the dust of Mother Moon, the cosmic source. The moon’s perpetual cycle determines all rhythms, desires, and possibilities on earth. Its luminous and visibly shifting shape keeps our heads craning upwards to the magical skies and heavens

— Maya Tiwari in Women's Power to Heal Through Inner Medicine

Align with Lunar Time

Calendars are a depiction of relationship. A sacred relationship to time. Time is a measure. A measure of what? The Greeks had two words for the concept of time: Chronos and Kairos.

Chronos is clock time, measured of seconds, it is chronological and more linear. It resembles the structured discipline of Saturn - it feels finite, like there is not enough and it will run out.

Kairos is experienced as moments, breaths, a window of opportunity, the expansiveness of being in the zone. There is a magical infinite quality of kairos time. Video and link to lunar connection.

Lunar time is a relationship with the natural world, mother earth, the tides, renewal and rebirth, the cosmos, and the essence of your cyclical being. It guides work and worship, ritual and rhythm, harvesting and offering - so that the wheel of the year keeps turning.

Over time for many people the thread of this connection has been severed by conquest, colonialism, industrialization and urbanization, slavery, immigration, and other causes for the “old ways” not being passed down to the next generation.

Aligning yourself with circular time and lunar time is one way to reconnect with ancient wisdom.

What calendars or ways of marking time were used by your ancestors? What model of timekeeping is meaningful to you in the context of your life today?

THE MOON IS MY CALENDAR - these words I heard spoken to me by many voices. It is an affirmation. There is no ownership, it is a partnership with nature. This is personal, collective, and sacred.

Below are some examples of calendars through the ages and across cultures. See what resonates and awakens curiosity for you.

Your assignment is to choose one or two calendars to research and learn more about the evolution of those calendars. Spend some time taking notes about what you want to share as you guide and support other people’s relationship with lunar time.

Hawaiian Moon Calendar - names specific to Moloka’i

Lunar festival calendar - Suye Mura, Southern Japan

Mapuche Calendar - South America/Patagonia

Northern Shoshone Calendar - North America/Turtle Island

Hebrew Calendar seasonal lunisolar calendar

Liturgical year Catholic church calendar

Mexica (Aztec) Calendar Wheel drawn by Mariano Fernández Echeverría y Veytia from the Sun Stone, or the Stone of Axayacatl.

Traditional Turkish Calendar (circa 1452)

The Mayan Tzolk’in matches nine cycles of the Moon and the gestational period of humans. Painting by Patricia Martín Morales.

Now it’s your turn: How would you describe your realtionship with time? What ways of telling or keeping time resonate with you? As a moon guide what do you want to keep in mind as you facilitate other’s people’s relationship with lunar time?

The Moon Is My Calendar is an educational site that offers tools and information to inspire you to connect with you inner wisdom and the wisdom of the natural world to lead a more radiant life.